Ruling machine



NOV. 7, 1933. A BRQADMEYER 1,934,224

RULING MACHINE Filed Nov. 19, 1929 7 Shee ts-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Nov. 7, 1933. A. BROADMEYEZR 1,934,224

RULING MACHINE Filed NOV. 19, 1929 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

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A TTORNE Y A. BROADMEYER RULING MACHINE 7 sheets-sheet 3 Filed NOV. 19, 1929 I N VEN TOR. @156 L 1/ BY W942 A TTORNEY ll km Q. J v 1 y kw n\...\.w\+ 3 Lwlwlll 7 %\1 ,f K 2 K 2 W n 5 W NOV. 7, 1933. A, BROADMEYER 1,934,224

RULING MACHINE Filed NOV. 19, 1929 '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 4 INVENTOR. (fa @6441 334041454444; 4/,

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ATTORNEY Nov. 7, 1933. A. BROADMEYER RULING MACHINE '7 ShetsSheet 5 Filed NOV. 19, 1929 INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEY Nov. 7, 1933. A. BROADMEYER RULING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Nov. 19, 1929 INVEN TOR.

WW- BY TORNEY Patented Nov. 7, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RULING MACHINE Albert Broadmeyer, Harrisburg, Pa., assignor to W. 0. Hickok Manufacturing Company, Harrisburg, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 19, 1929. Serial No. 408,331

8 Claims.

The object of the present invention is to provide an exceptionally compact apparatus that will thus occupy little floor space. Another and important object is to provide a structure that is exceedingly rapid in operation. As a consequence two highly desirable results are obtained.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the preferred Passin.g around the roller 20 with the cloth, the

embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a view in elevation and on an enlarged scale of a portion of the rulingv mechanism.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view and one that is diagrammatic in its character to show the form and paths of the sheet conveyor cloth and cords as well as their coacting relation.

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view of the mechanism for removing the sheets from the cloth and delivering them to the receiver or layboy.

Figure 5 is a detail sectional view at right angles to Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a detail view in elevation of one of the brushes.

Figure 7 is a cross sectional view through the machine and illustrating the controlling mechanism therefor.

Figure 8 is a top plan view of the dryer.

Figure 9 is a cross sectional view therethrough on the line 9-9 of Figure 8.

In the embodiment disclosed, a frame is employed thatis preferably of metal channel bars. These include end standards 10 and upper and lewer longitudinal side bars 11 and 12. A supporting bar 13 is located longitudinally along the front side of the machine (to wit, the side appearing in Figure 1) below and slightly behind the upper frame bar 11. Mounted on the bar 11 is the usual table 14. Posts 15, also mounted on the side bar 11, support the pen beams or pen-carrying mechanisms, designated generally by the reference numeral 16. A gate 17 is located at the front or sheet-receiving end of the frame. While these instrumentalities may be of any well-known or desired character, preferably they are of the type disclosed in copending applications, Serial Nos. 408,332, and 408,333.

An endless conveyor cloth has an upper stretch 18 that moves rearwardly over the table 14 and beneath the pens 16. This stretch begins at its front end at a roller 19 around which the cloth passes and terminates at a rear roller 20. A lower forwardly moving stretch 21 of the cloth extends from the roller to a lower front-roller 22, around which it passes upwardly past a cords have a forwardly moving stretch 27 that lies against the underside of the stretch 21 of the cloth. They leave the stretch 21 at the roller 22, passing downwardly around a roller 28 that is beneath said roller 22. From the roller 28 a rearwardly moving idler stretch 29 of said cords passes to a rear lower roller 30, thence upwardly 7 as shown at 31 to an upper rear roller 32 and from the roller 32, the usual forwardly moving upper idler stretch 33 extends to an upper front roller 34 and thence the cords pass downwardly to the roller 25. These strings or cords are driven solely by their frictional contact with the conveyor cloth and serve to hold the sheets firmly on said cloth both on the upper stretch 18 and the lower stretch 21 of the cloth.

In advance of the ruling machine is a sheet feeder designated generally by the reference numeral 35. It may be of any well known type. As shown a vertically movable table 36 carries the pile of sheets and from the top thereof 'a rotary suction head 37 removes the sheets one by one toward the ruling machine. Between the feeder 35 and the ruling machine the usual conveyor and guide 38 is located, this conveyor and guide as is well known delivering sheets to the gate 17, which permits their passage successively on to the cloth.

Beneath the conveyor andguide 38 and between the ruling machine and feeder 35 is a receiver for the ruled sheets. This is shown as a layboy 39 which may be of any well known construction. The sheets are delivered to the layboy from the front ends of the lower stretches of the cloth 21 and cords 27.

The mechanism for insuring this delivery is preferably as follows and is shown more particularly in Figures 4, 5 and 6. A transverse rod 40 is mounted on the front standards 10 of the frame and slidable on these rods are sleeves 41 carrying bracket arms 42. The sleeves are split and receive holding collars 43 held by set screws 44. The sleeves 41 and bracket arms 42 are thus capable of rotary movement. The bracket arms terminate in journal boxes 45 in which are mounted stub axles 46. Hung from one end of each of these axles is a depending arm 47 terminating in a yoke 48 that engages in the peripheral groove 49 of the hub of a roller 50. The rollers 50, as shown in Figure 5, are mounted on a drive shaft 51 and are keyed thereto as shown at 52 so as to be adjustable toward and from each other on said shaft 51. The rollers are preferably made of sections 53 and 54, between which are located disks 55 of blotting paper. By reference to Figure 5, it will be noted that the peripheries of the rollers 50 are generally concaved, being formed with outer flanges 56. The axles 46 have journaled on their inner ends rollers 57 with transverse convexed peripheries 58 that ride on the peripheral portions of the rollers 50 formed by the disks 55. At the inner sides of the rollers 57 the axles 46 carry rearwardly extending arms 59 terminating in yokes 60 that engage the peripheral grooves 61 of the hubs 62 of revolving brushes 63. These brushes are slidably keyed to another drive shaft 64 positioned in front of the roller 22 and so arranged that the brushes operate against the face of the upwardly moving portion of the conveyor cloth 21 where it turns about the roller 22.

It will be evident therefore that the sheets, after having been ruled, will be carried rearwardly by the stretch 18 of the conveyor cloth and the stretch 26 of the cords around the roller 20, thence forwardly by the stretches 21 and 27 and projected between the rollers 50 and 57. Should the front end of a sheet cling to the cloth 21 (as may sometimes happen) the brushes 63 will detach it and insure its proper direction. It will be understood that the two sets of rollers 5057 are adjusted to the width of the sheet so that the margins of the sheets will pass between the rollers 50 and 57, as indicated in Figure 5, and said margins will be curled thereby stiffening the sheets longitudinally so that they will be projected over the layboy 39 into which they drop.

For the purpose of operating the various instrumentalities, a motor 65 is mounted on a base 66 within the frame and is suitably geared to a drive shaft 67 carrying a pulley 68. This pulley is connected by a belt 69 to a pulley 70 at the rear side of the ruling machine, which pulley, as shown particularly in Figure 7, is Journaled loosely on a shaft 71 extending transversely of the machine and having its front end journaled in the supporting bar 13. A suitable clutch 72 serves to connect the pulley '70 and shaft 71 and this clutch 72 is operated by a vertical lever 73 fulcrumed on a bracket 74 on the rear side of the machine and having its lower end connected to a link 75 extending to the front side of the machine. The link '75 is connected to an operating lever '76 and said lever 76 is fixed to a rock shaft 77 on which may be for convenience of operation located other hand levers as 78 (Figure 1). The shaft 71 is geared, as shown at '79 to a series of cam heads 80 journaled on the supporting bar 13, said cam heads being adapted as usual to carry cams for operating the ruling devices 15. The main drive gear 81 of the shaft 71, which operates the gearing 79, is in mesh with another gear 82 that drives, through suitable change gearing 83, the rear roller 20, around which the conveyor cloth 18 and cords 26 pass.

The roller 20 furthermore has on its front end a sprocket wheel 84, around which passes a sprocket chain; 85 that also passes around a sprocket wheel 86 on a shaft 87 that is disposed below the roller shaft 51 (see Figure 4). A gear 88 on the shaft 87 meshes with a gear 89 on the shaft 51 and thus the latter shaft and the rollers 50 and 57 are driven. The roller 22, around which the stretch of the cloth 21 passes, carries a gear wheel 90, which is in mesh with an idler gear 91, and this idler gear is in turn in mesh with a gear 92 on the brush shaft '64. The brushes are thus rotated from the roller 22, but preferably at a higher rate of speed than the surface speed of the conveyor cloth.

Because of the relatively short length of time required to pass the sheets from the ruling mechanisms into the layboy and in order to insure the ink being dried, an electric heater 93 is located beneath the rear portion of the forwardly moving stretches 21-27 of the conveyor cloth and cords. As shown particularly in Figures 8 and 9 this heater comprises a plurality of transversely disposed troughs 94 whose open sides are located adjacent the stretches 21--27. The walls of these troughs are preferably formed of heat-reflecting material and extending longitudinally within the troughs are incandescing filaments 95 of nichrome or other suitable material. These are supported by insulating blocks 96 and all are connected to a suitable circuit 97 that includes a switch or circuit controller 98 fixed to the rear side of the frame, as illustrated in Figure 7. The actuating handle or lever 99 of this circuit controller has a link connection 100 with the clutch operating lever 73. The consequence is that the circuit is controlled by the actuating levers 76 and 78 along with the clutch 72.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: When the clutch 72 couples the drive pulley '70 and shaft 71, the entire mechanism is in operation. Sheets are fed from the feeder 35 and are brought by the conveyor and guide 38 to the gate 17. This gate as is common with gates of ruling machines, successively admits the sheets to the ruling mechanism and they are caught and carried by the stretch 18 of the conveyor cloth and the stretch 26 of the cords beneath the ruling mechanism 16, by which the lines are ruled thereon. The clutching of the drive pulley 70 to the drive shaft 71 also automatically closes the switch 98, so that the drier 93 is in operation. And as the sheets are carried around the roller 20 and forwardly by the stretches 21 and 27 they traverse the heater 93 and are dried thereby. When they are brought to the front end of the stretches 21 and 27, they are projected between the sets of rollers 50 and 58, their detachment from the cloth being insured as already explained by the brushes 63. As the sheets pass through the rollers their margins are curled so that the sheets will remain in horizontal position and be projected into the layboy where they will pile one on the other. Whenever the machine is stopped by the operation of the levers 76 and 78, the circuit controller 98 for the heater is opened. As a consequence if there is a sheet over the heater, it will not be injured by the same.

It has been found that this mechanism can be operated at remarkably high speed and that sheets of various sizes and proportions can be successively ruled. Moreover as the apparatus is peculiarly compact, it occupies a relatively small amount of floor space.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction, operation and many advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without further description, and it will be understood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What I claim, is:

1. In a ruling machine, the combination with ruling mechanism, of a sheet feeder, means for delivering sheets from the feeder to the ruling mechanism, a receiver layboy for the ruled sheets located between the feeder and ruling mechanism below said sheet delivering means, an endless sheet conveyor having an upper rearwardly moving stretch that receives the sheets from the delivering means and carries them beneath the ruling mechanism and a lower forwardly moving stretch that carries said sheets beneath the ruling mechanism and delivers them to said receiver, and a single set of cords coacting with the upper face of one stretch and the lower face of the other stretch of the conveyor to hold the sheets thereagainst and permit their delivery to the receiver.

2. In a ruling machine, the combination with a table and ruling instrumentalities thereover of front and rear rollers at the front and rear ends of the table, an endless conveyor cloth passing around the rollers and having an upper stretch moving rearwardly between the table and the" ruling instrumentalities and a lower stretch moving forwardly beneath the table, other front and rear rollers above the table and below the same, a single set of cords passing about the latter rollers and around the rear roller first mentioned, said cords having stretches coacting with the said stretches of the cloth, and a pileforming receiver for the ruled sheets in advance of the lower forwardly moving stretches of the cloth and cords and receiving the sheets therefrom.

3. In a ruling machine, the combination with a table and ruling instrumentalities thereover, of front and rear rollers at the front and rear ends of the table, an endless conveyor cloth passing around the rollers and having an upper stretch moving rearwardly between the table and the ruling instrumentalities and a lower stretch moving forwardly beneath the table, other front and rear rollers above the table and below the same, a single set of cords passing about the latter rollers and around the rear roller first mentioned, said cords having stretches coacting with the said stretches of the cloth, a feeder for the unruled sheets, a conveyor for delivering the sheets from the feeder to the upper stretches of the cloth and cords, a pileforming receiver for the ruled sheets located between the feeder and ruling instrumentalities and below the last mentioned conveyor, and means for delivering the ruled sheets from the lower stretches of the cloth and cord to the receiver.

4. In a ruling machine, the combination with mechanism for operating on sheets, of a receiver for the sheets operated on, and mechanism for delivering the sheets operated on, to

the receiver, said delivering mechanism including brackets relatively adjustable toward and from each other, and a set of coacting rollers journaled on each bracket, one having a channeled periphery, the other engaging in the channel thereof. 7

5. In a ruling machine, the combination with mechanism for operating on sheets, of a receiver for the sheets operated on, and mechanism for delivering the sheets operated on, to the receiver, said delivering mechanism including a drive shaft, a pair of channeled curling rollers keyed to the drive shaft and adjustable therealong, brackets adjustable longitudinally of the drive shaft and having yokes engaged with the rollers, and other rollers journaled on the bracke ets and engaged with the first mentioned rollers to curl the margins of the sheets passing between the rollers, said bracket-carried rollers being adjustable with the brackets and the first mentioned rollers.

6. In a ruling machine, the combination with mechanism for operating on sheets, of a re.- ceiver for the sheets operated on, a conveyor for moving the sheets from the mechanism toward the receiver, a roller adjacent the receiver and around which the conveyor passes to change its direction, sets of coacting rollers that receive the margins of the sheets and curl the same to stiffen the sheets as they pass to the receiver, brackets carrying the rollers and relatively adjustable to position the sets at different distances apart, and brushes for removing the sheets from the conveyor and delivering them to the rollers, said brushes being relatively adjustable with the brackets.

'7. In a ruling machine, the combination with a table and ruling devices thereover, of a sheet feeder, a sheet guide and conveyor interposed between the feeder and table, a layboy beneath the guide and conveyor and between the feeder and table, an endless cloth having a rearwardly movable stretch operating over the table and a forwardly movable stretch beneath the table and behind the layboy, a front roller for the front 110 end of the latter stretch, a single set of cords operating upon both stretches of the cloth and having lower rearwardly movable and upper forwardly movable idler stretches, said cords leaving the lower stretch of the cloth, at the said front roller, sets of coacting rollers between the front end of said lower stretch and the layboy for engaging the margins of the sheet and curling the same to stiffen the sheets as they pass to the layboy, and a brush operating on the cloth as it passes around the roller to remove the sheets therefrom and insure their passage to-the rollers.

8. In a ruling machine, the combination with a table and ruling devices thereover, of a sheet feeder, a sheet guide and conveyor interposed between the feeder and table, a layboy beneath the guide andconveyor and between the feeder and table, an endless cloth having a rearwardly movable stretch operating over the table and a forwardly movable stretch beneath the table and behind the layboy, a frontroller for the front end of the latter stretch, a single set of cords operating upon both stretches of the cloth and having lower rearwardly movable and upper forwardly movable idler stretches, said cords leaving the lower stretch of the cloth at'the said front roller, sets of coacting rollers between the front end of said lower stretch and the layboy for engaging the margins of the sheet and curling the same to stiffen the sheets as they pass to the layboy, spaced brushes operating on the cloth as it passes around the roller to remove the sheets therefrom and insure their passage to the rollers, and brackets engaged with the sets of 1 rollers and the brushes and adjustable transversely of the cloth to relatively position the sets of rollers and the brushes at different distances apart to operate on sheets of different widths. 

